Serendipity
by Skylla1231
Summary: BABE. Stephanie agreed to move in with Ranger. While packing Ranger stumbles across something curious.


Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong solely to Janet Evanovich. Unfortunately so does all the money. Everyone that you don't recognized, including characters to be named at a later date, are completely made up by me, myself, and I.

A/N: One-shot about something interesting Ranger finds in Steph's apartment as they pack up her stuff so that they can move in together.

I hope you like it :)

As Always, Thanks For Reading.  
~Sky

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**Serendipity**

I sighed and wiped the sweat off my face. For three hours Ranger and I have been packing up my sad little apartment.

After five months of official dating, Ranger asked me to move in with him. He said I didn't have to answer right away but to at least think about. And I did. Every spare minute I had, I thought about it. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. We slept together every night, either at Haywood or here. Poor Rex was being carted back and forth. Every time I picked his cage up, I swear he tried to growl at me. A good hamster mommy doesn't travel back and forth every day. Plus if I moved in with Ranger, I'd have 24/7 access to Ella's cooking.

A pair of mocha arms wrapped around me, pulled me against a solid chest. His lips brushed against my ear as he spoke softly to me. "I'd like to think that I was the reason for that hunger in your eyes."

With an innocent look on my face I turned around in his arms, so that I was facing him. "Who says you're not?"

"You were moaning about chocolate cake." Uh oh. I was caught. His grin was predatory. "I don't have cake with me, but I know where I can get some pie."

Damn. There goes my panties, I thought. "The pie you can get is for you. I can't have that kind of pie."

Ranger raised his eyebrow at me. "Do you want that kind of pie?"

My face felt like it was on fire. "What?! No! I was just saying. Jeeze." I smacked his arm when he grinned at me. "Get back to work mister. The sooner we're done, the sooner we can go home."

I watched his eyes soften slightly when I said home. He let go of my waist, only to move his hands to my face, lifting it up to meet his. We kissed softly, just an appetizer of what was to come.

"You are way too good at that," I told him on a sigh.

His laugh made my heart skip a beat. "I could say the same to you, Babe. Come on. Lets finish packing your bedroom."

I was tugged in front of my closet, where three boxes were waiting to be filled with my clothes. "How about _you_ do the closet and I'll do the rest of the room?"

"You'll owe me."

"I thought what we gave each other had no price?"

"That was when you were still with Morelli. Now that you're mine. . ."

"I'm not sure I like that grin of yours."

"Good." He spun me around and smacked my ass. "Get to work."

"Ass." I said with no heat. We both got back to work. My bedroom was the only room left. After this we'll pack everything into the truck and head over to Haywood.

I walked over to my only nightstand and started packing the contents into another box. When I moved onto the second drawer, Ranger spoke up.

"Babe?"

I turned to look at him. "Yeah?" He raised a small locked chest in the air, question in his eyes. I smiled when I saw it. "It's my treasure box. All my favorite memories are in there."

"Memories?"

He always has to be so technical. Mental eye roll. "Yes memories. You wanna see?"

Instead of saying anything, he just walked over and handed me the box. Guess someone was as curious as me, I thought with a grin. I dug back into the items I just packed and pulled out a small ring box. Underneath the ring and the center that held it, was the key to the box. I pulled it out and opened the box.

The first item I pulled out was a dried rose. "This is from you from Valentine's day of last year."

"How did you know it was from me?" He asked

I shrugged. "Just a feeling. Hopefully this year, I'll get a couple more."

"Only if you're good."

"Damn. What do I get if I'm bad?" I asked with a cheeky grin.

His eyes darkened slightly. "Keep this up and you'll find out."

After that little exchange I got back to the box. I'd pull out an item and tell Ranger the what, where, and when's about it. Some of them made him smile. The others just made him shake his head.

The previous one was a head shaker. "Whatever Ranger. It made sense to me," I told him as I pulled out the next item. I smiled when I touched it.

"What's that?" he asked when I didn't show it to him right away.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Guess I got lost in the memory." I showed him the waxy tattoo paper covered with butterflies and a set of wings. The second he saw it he looked from me to the paper in surprise. "What?"

"Where did you get that?"

"I got it from someone when I went down to Point Pleasant as a kid."

"Babe." I didn't know what to make of the way he said that but before I could say anything, Ranger continued. "Tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked confused.

"About that day."

I looked at him funny for a moment, trying to figure out what was wrong. When he didn't say anything else, I sighed and told him the story.

_I sat on the pier, my feet dangling over the edge, as I watched the clouds glide in the sky. I couldn't do anything with my broken arm. It wasn't fair that I had to go with my family. I asked Mom if I could stay with Grandma and Grandpa Mazur this weekend but she said no. She said it would teach me better than to jump off the garage roof again._

_She wasn't happy when she took me to the hospital. Neither was I. I thought I was flying but noooooo. Stupid gravity. It's not fair. I concentrated sooooo hard too. I even prayed every night to God to help me fly. Lot of good that did._

_I sighed when I looked at my arm in the cast. Three more weeks of this stupid thing._

_I lay on my back so I could look at the clouds better. I'd give anything to be able to reach them one day. They looked so pretty with all their different shapes. Cats, trees, people, cars. Clouds never looked the same, just like snowflakes, so I never got bored looking at them._

_"What happened to your arm?"_

_I jumped and screamed. As quickly as I could, I stood up and faced the voice. It was a boy. He was a little taller than me, had skin the color of milk chocolate, and skinnier than I was which I couldn't help frowning at. I wanted his hair. It was long and straight and black. He didn't look like a Burg boy._

_"What's the matter with you?!" I told him. "You scared me! You're not supposed to sneak up on people!"_

_His lips twitched a little. "You should be more aware of what's around you."_

_I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't have to be if strange boys didn't walk up to me."_

_This time he really did smile. "Good point."_

_We just stared at each other after that. He was really pretty for a boy, but I didn't think he would want to hear that. I wanted to talk to him, but I wasn't sure if I should. Mom always told me to never talk to strangers. But there was something about him. . . ._

_I tried to wait for him to say something but he didn't crack. He just kept looking at my arm. With a sigh, I told him what happened. "I tried to fly. I climbed up onto the garage roof with my cape. I jumped off. Instead of flying though, I just fell. That's how it broke. Mom wasn't happy, but I'm glad I tried. When the stupid cast comes off I'm gonna try again to figure out what I did wrong."_

_He nodded like it made sense to him. No one ever looked at me like that when I told them. "There was no one down there to catch you just in case you couldn't fly?"_

_Sadly I shook my head. "No. No one believed I could fly. They just laughed at me. Everyone calls me a loser for even trying. I'm gonna prove them wrong next time though. I have to."_

_He didn't say anything after that. He just continued to look at me. I started to get a little annoyed. "What?" I asked him._

_"I'll be back in 5 minutes. Wait here." He told me then started walking away._

_"Hey!" I called after him._

_"Five minutes," was all he said, not even bothering to look back at me._

_I wanted to cross my arms but with the stupid thing on it, I couldn't. I was tempted to walk away, maybe even go find my family. . . Ok maybe not that but I could always go to the arcades. Bossing me around. Pffft. I didn't know him. I didn't have to listen to him._

_But I didn't move. I stayed to wait for him. There was just something about that boy. . . ._

_Just like he said, five minutes later he came back with something in his hand. It was one of those cardboard holders that had stickers or fake tattoos in them._

_"Here." He handed it to me and stuck his hands in his pockets._

_I looked at him and back to the cardboard in my hands. I was a little scared to open it but I was curious. Slowly I lifted the piece away. I had to blink a lot before I could see what I was looking at. It was one of those tattoo sheets. Colorful little butterflies were in the corners. It was the center one that made me smile. The biggest of the tattoos was a set of very pretty wings. Underneath it were the words 'Born To Fly'._

_His voice started me again. "I thought if a cape didn't help you, then maybe some wings would. I had to try four times before I could get that one. Do you like it?"_

_I couldn't help it, my eyes started to water. "Yes. Thank you." I ran up and hugged him hard. "Thank you. This is the nicest thing anyone's ever gotten me." I backed away from him a little embarrassed and wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand. "What do I owe you?"_

_"Nothing. Don't worry about it."_

_I was gonna argue with him but an older lady with the boys skin color walked up to us and started speaking a funny language to the boy. He frowned and he talked back in that language. I think it was Spanish but I didn't know._

_It went on for a couple minutes before the boy finally turned back towards me. "I have to go now."_

_"Oh." I said sadly. "Ok." I didn't want him to go though. I wanted to keep talking to him._

_He smiled a little as the lady started walking away. "Remember the next time you try to fly, to have someone down there to catch you in case the wings don't work, ok?"_

_I grinned and agreed. "Ok." Then he started to walk away. "Hey!" I called after him. He just turned around and raised an eyebrow at me – I always wanted to do that – but didn't say anything. "Will you catch me?"_

"The boy just looked at me for a minute before saying – "

"Maybe someday." Ranger interrupted me.

I looked at him funny. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Babe." He shook his head. "This is crazy."

"What? I'm being serious! That's what happened!" My voice was higher because I was mad he thought I was lying.

"No Babe. I know you're not lying." He paused and just looked at me. "I was the little boy."

I stared at him in disbelief. When I tried to say something, my mouth opened but no words came out.

Ranger gave me a slow smile as he tucked a stray curl. "Your hair was in pigtails. You were wearing a knee length black skirt and a bright blue shirt that matched your eyes."

"Wow," was all I could say quietly. That was exactly what I had on. "This is unbelievable," I whispered. "To think we've known each other for so many years and neither of us knew."

"Serendipity." He said.

"Serendipity?" I never heard that word before.

"Fate."

"I thought you didn't believe in fate or destiny."

He leaned forward, pulling me against him tight. "I didn't believe in a lot before we met."

"Which time?" I asked him. We both laughed at that. "It's no wonder I could never commit to anyone." Ranger raised his eyebrow and I smiled lightly at him. "You stole my heart when I was 7."

He leaned down and kissed me lightly before showing me just how much he loved me.

And you know what?

He was always there, watching me as I flew.

And he always caught me when I fell.

Just like he said he would.

Someday.

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A/N: I can't help loving the idea of this. Hope you did too :)


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